Duckies!

I made it to BodyPump, I wanted to celebrate that seeing that today wasn't such a great day.  Long story short, anxiety is and will never be my friend.  It's ok, I can deal with it as long as I take long walks (or RUNS) and do some type of other activity.  Anxiety attacks aren't great and I feel for e/one else who deals with them.  There, anxiety can go suck it.

I walked with my mom and my Little Bear passed out.  She had been feeling sick (still!) or something or another.  She was not a pleasant child to be around today!  Goodness, I hope she feels better.  She barely ate until my mother came and made me look like I never feed her.  Always.

Pictures from today's walk:

Staring at the clouds instead of looking at Garmin to not look crazy.

There's a lake facing our complex so there's always hungry ducks around.  For a while, there were a bunch of duckies quacking and begging for food, then they disappeared.  At the same time.  My mom and I thought someone had eaten them.  Who knows, there's crazy people everywhere.  Anyway, we found them today!

I guess they're smart and stay around where the food's at for free.

My mom counted 14 duckies and one faithful duck mom.  She was watching us and threatening to attack.  My mother and I are afraid of bigger-than-cats birds.  A goose attacked and chased my mother once, I just hate their little icky feet.  And eyes.  Their eyes can see through your soul.

No kidding.

We finished and came home to give the kids a bath and feed them dinner.  I felt like a mother duck.  Both fell asleep without a peep (lol) and I am now getting ready to go to sleep while batting Olivia the Kitten away from the laptop screen.  She doesn't get it.

Wore knee band.  No pain!

I have a date with the elliptical on Sunday, I am very excited to try out some real cardio again!

Painless walk.

We take our bodies for granted.  I remember begging my husband to walk the dog when we lived on the third floor.  I used to be so lazy, I used to hate going up the stairs when we had groceries.  And now I'm complaining about not being able to walk.  Well done, life.  Well done.  I get the irony of it all.

But not today, I won't.  I don't get to complain, see here:

Today I celebrate freedom from pain!

I took a short walk with my mother today, it was unplanned and she was wearing the wrong shoes.  The weather was great, a little breeze, a little shade.  We walked around the apartment complex with the double stroller and both of my kids hated me for taking them away from the A/C.  They can suck it, they need to learn to be active adults.  They're under 3 years old, they've got a long way to go.

I wore my knee band during the walk to get used to the feeling of it, I don't know if it helped.  Maybe it's all the resting I've been doing but my knee didn't hurt when we got back.  It still doesn't hurt.  I iced it right after.  I also did a series of strengthening exercises for my knee, foam rolled and stretched.  I'm doing alright, right?

Right.  Tomorrow at 5:00 a.m., BodyPump.  I'll have to wake up at 4:30 to get there in time.  Goodness, I miss running so much.

Just a walk.

What a long day, wasn't it? I woke up later than usual (catching up on sleep) and got cleaning. Well, I fed the bears and then cleaned and cleaned. Sad thing is, the apartment now looks as messy as when I started! Those kids, always finding something to flip over.

Anyway, food and exercise. I took a walk with my mom at 8:00 p.m. because it was finally cool enough to walk outside.  It was short but made a huge difference in my mood.  I'm planning to take another walk with the kids as soon as we get up.  It'll be not so hot, I hope.

First walk since Sunday?  Glad to get out!

There was a freak storm (rained twice, wind was crazy) early in the day and then it went back to oven-hot. I took a picture because I'm trying to add some adventure into my life:

From inside my apartment.  I'm adventurous, not crazy.

Food was alright, getting tired of the same thing but I'm not going grocery shopping tomorrow. I have a date with my weight lifting instructor for BodyPump at 11 a.m. I haven't been there since... last Wednesday? I'm not sure, being inside so much is driving me insane.

Breakfast: coffee, egg sandwich w/avocado and a small apple.

While looking at houses to lease, half an almond butter sandwich.

Chicken strip salad with peanuts, avocado, grapes and queso fresco.
Some baby carrots for crunch.  I'm loving avocado right now.
That's the Gummy Bear jumping in the picture.

Coffee and oatmeal cookies before the hubby goes off to make money.

Leftovers, pasta with veggies and toast.
Greek yogurt, just because.

Mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, almonds and Cheerios.

I need a bigger second meal.  I was still hungry.
Almond butter, best-jelly-in-the-world on toast.

After the walk.  Chicken sandwich, Greek yogurt,
pecans, lettuce, avocado, salsa... and cold water.

I'm sleepy and I should take it as a hint that I need to go rest.  It stinks to have to go to sleep right after the silence takes over the apartment.  Both kids had a hard time going to sleep tonight, one's teething and the other one's too happy to go nite-nite.  That's my conclusion, anyway.

Tavos and some healthy Ducks

My mother came over and we walked the kids.  I also took the loaf of bread that came out too "not right" and fed it to the ducks.  The bread was fine, but I was testing out the Smart Butter and I didn't like the taste of it.  Them ducks got some healthy bread, though.  We walked for 30 minutes and came back to bathe the monsters.  Very tiring work!

Earlier today, we went grocery shopping and I finally bought TVP and nutritional yeast, which I've learned is also called "nooch."  Cool name.  We ate Subway (again!) so we weren't starving, but my daughter doesn't eat anything lately and I had to try once again to cook something she'd eat.  It worked, hallelujah.

Tavos (TVP taco filling)
Serves 7 (84g, around 3/4 cup)

Ingredients
Filling
55 g green bell pepper
74g chopped onion
78 g carrots

1 cup TVP
1 can of chopped, fire roasted tomatoes (I used 1/4 c of the drained tomatoes and the juice--8 oz)
60 g of diced canned potatoes

Taco seasoning (I only used around half of it this time)
1/4 t red pepper flakes
1/4 t cilantro (I ran out, I usually use more)
1 t garlic powder
1 t ground cumen
1/2 t paprika
1 big pinch of salt
Lots of black pepper

Check It
You'll need a medium-sized pan, once heated, add onion and spray with Pam.  After a minute or so, add the carrots and repeat with the green bell peppers.  You'll want the mix to look like this before adding the tomato:

I don't like my carrot getting too sweet.

Add the drained tomato and mix around.  If you used the fire roasted type, it'll start getting hot in your kitchen.

After mixed through, add the 8 oz of the tomato juice and once it starts boiling, remove the pan from the heat and add the spices.  Then add the TVP granules once the spices and veggies have mixed together.

Continue mixing the TVP until there's no more liquid sloshing around.  Cover the pan and let it hang out for around 5-10 minutes.

If you're like me and just stumble around in the kitchen, you forgot to add the diced potatoes.  Well, the kitchen is forgiving, add them while the TVP is rehydrating itself.  I did, it came out just fine.

Here are the steps for adding the TVP, I was scared of trying it out b/c I thought it'd be hard to cook.  Not at all.

Looks like cereal!

Before it's been thoroughly mixed.

Seasoned and topped with forgotten potatoes.

Artfully decorated.

I like!

From MyFitnessPal!

I really liked it, we'll see tomorrow.  My husband usually buys Taco Bell on the way home and I hope I can replace that.  The filling isn't as salty, but he can add some if he likes.  I'll be cooking this more often, it's supposed to freeze well, too.  Double awesome!